Irish consumers are eating less salt, sugar and fat in their diet thanks to the reformulation of the products they consume, the food industry has claimed.
The average daily sodium intake of an adult dropped at least 8 per cent between 2005 and 2012 as manufacturers cut the amount of salt in their products, according to a report by Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII).
Fat intake was down 3 per cent, saturated fat 5 per cent and sugar 2 per cent as a result of reductions in nutrients in 600 popular products produced by 14 leading food companies.
The report also estimated the impact on people’s diet based on an assumption that the wider food industry reformulated products in the same manner as the 14 FDII companies.
This produced far greater estimated reductions; up to 45 per cent in the adult intake of sodium, 18 per cent for saturated fat 8 per cent for sugar and 7 per cent for fat.
Under this projection, children’s fat intake fell by up to 6 per cent, saturated fat was down 23 per cent, sodium 30 per cent and sugar 14 per cent.
A supplementary report claims a drop of 10 per cent in sugar intake in the Irish national diet between 2005 and 2012 as a result of reformulation of beverages and a move to low and no-calorie drinks.
However, the analysis in the reports does not take account of changes to portion size, including the recent trend among food manufacturers to reduced the size of their products, often while not reducing the price.
Paul Kelly, director of FDII, said the commitment of food and drink companies to change recipes and introduce new products has had a significant and positive impact on the diet of Irish consumers.
Dr Wayne Anderson, director of food science at the Foods Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), welcomed the initiative but pointed to the trend towards "nutrition creep" in recent years as competing food companies increased the level of sugar, fat and salt in their products.
Dr Anderson said the authority had put a huge amount of effort into its salt reduction programme, which ran between 2003 and 2013 until it decided this was no longer sustainable.
The food industry has now taken over the programme, with the FSAI playing a monitoring role. Dr Anderson said it had taken longer than anticipated to get up and running but the FDII was now “driving the bus”.
